Leaving CTU
by ToothFairy
Summary: A few hours after the finale of Day 4, Tony and Michelle prepare to leave the only job they have ever known...


_Just another idea that came floating into my head one day :) This is how I imagine them leaving it all behind… (oh and by the way, this is completely pointless, and with no real storyline, but it was fun to write so… :p )_

The door to the Director's Office was open, just like it had always been when he had owned it. He found her clearing her desk.

"Hey," he said.

She looked up and smiled at the sight of him. "Hey."

He entered the office as she continued to hurriedly clean up, obviously getting ready to leave. "I'm almost done here," she told him, "I'm just looking for-"

He gently grabbed her wrist from the opposite side of the desk before she could bend down to look for whatever it was she needed. Her puzzled expression softened as soon as she saw his face.

"How you doin'?" he whispered, sitting down on the edge of her desk.

His words caught her completely off-guard, bringing back so many memories of their happy days together. He had always asked her that whenever they'd had a rough day at work, which was often. She had forgotten how soft his voice would become, and how his eyes would touch her soul in a way that nothing else could. She had forgotten so many things that were slowly coming back now that she was allowing herself to remember.

She smiled. "I'm okay. Just…"

"Tired," they finished together, and then both grinned. He marvelled at how easy it was to laugh when she was around.

"So uh… what do you wanna do now?" he asked her after another moment, trying not to sound hesitant, but she caught it anyway. She opened her mouth to answer, but nothing came out. All she wanted right now was a warm, cosy bed and the man standing in front of her, preferably both at the same time.

"Michelle… I don't want to put any pressure on you. You tell me how you want to do this and that's how we'll do it."

She moved around the desk to him, eyes never leaving his face, and placed her hands on his shoulders.

"We'll see, okay? Now let's just go home and get some rest."

She pulled away to finish cleaning up, but he gently held her back by her elbow. He didn't voice the question because he didn't have to; she read it in his eyes.

_Together?_

She was surprised that he would even doubt that, and realized, perhaps for the first time, how low his self-esteem had become when it came to things like this.

She answered in the simplest way possible, as if elaborating would tear her apart. "I need you."

He looked at her carefully, searching for any kind of hesitance or wariness, but when she smiled he noticed that her eyes lit up just like they used to, and he knew instantly that everything was going to be alright.

She finished up, and just a few minutes later they were heading down those ever so familiar stairs one last time, before leaving this world forever and never looking back.

Tony was in front and saw the woman first- he realized he didn't even know her name. His heart stopped for a second as he automatically moved to block Michelle's view, forgetting for a moment that she didn't know what the girl looked like.

The woman had spotted them as well, and she smirked as he saw a twisted recognition flicker in her pale blue eyes.

"So, Tony," she said smugly, suddenly horribly reminding him of Nina Myers, "This your girl? She's cute. Too bad she left you to die like a tramp in the streets."

He closed his eyes as he felt Michelle's body freeze behind him, no doubt recognizing the cold voice.

Curtis shoved the woman in front of him, muttering, "Shut up.", but both Tony and Michelle caught the last look she threw at them as she was being led to freedom, triumph and glee written cruelly across her face.

He felt more than heard her turn, and he spun around to see her stumble into a vacant office. He didn't hesitate; he went in after her and closed the door.

She was holding onto the edge of a table with one hand and had the other clasped over her mouth. He couldn't help but notice that she was shaking a little.

"Michelle," he said softly, making his way over to her and placing his hand gently on her shoulder, rubbing it a little, "Don't let her get to you like that."

She closed her eyes and he saw a single tear run down her cheek, and it was more than he could take. She'd cried too much on his behalf already; he didn't want her ever shedding another tear because of him.

"Sshh," he soothed, surprising himself with the catch in his voice as she drew her into his arms, "It's okay. It's over now."

Although her body seemed to relax just a little against his, her fingers did not stop digging almost painfully into his shoulders. He rhythmically ran his hand up and down her back a few times, before she quietly said with her voice muffled into his neck, "I hate her."

He was surprised at this. Michelle had never been someone who hated easily, just like she'd never been someone who loved easily. But when she did either one, he knew it was with passion, with ferocity, with devotion.

"No, honey," he told her, "She's not worth it."

She pulled back to look at him, not understanding how he could possibly say that. "But she-"

He stroked her cheek with his thumb and smiled a little. "It's all in the past now. It's doesn't matter anymore."

She struggled with this, struggled with the unfairness of it all- that the woman who had come so close to taking him away from her again, just when she'd found him and dared to hope that she might be happy, was now being released as if all she'd done was get a speeding ticket. That if it had been the other way around- if it had been Stephen Saunders who was being led out of here with full immunity- Tony would without a doubt first throw a fit, and when that didn't work, probably track the man down and kill him with his own bare hands.

And now he wasn't even letting her hate the woman in peace.

But as she looked in his beautiful dark eyes, she decided to try to let it go, for him. It was her way of showing him that she loved him, just as much as he loved her- that Committing Treason or Not Committing Treason didn't have anything to do with it.

He saw her change in demeanor, and leaned in and kissed her forehead. Then he gave her hand a gentle squeeze and said, "C'mon. Let's go."

He started to drop her hand when they left the office, but she half held him back, so that she was not really still holding his hand but sort of playing with his fingers. She wasn't quite ready to let go completely.

But when they ran into Bill Buchanan, she subtly dropped his hand. It wasn't really because he was her boss and she had once been embarrassed about things like this; it was more because she knew things had gotten tense between him and Tony a couple times in the last few hours, and she didn't want to make it worse.

"I take it you two are heading home," Bill said, almost formally, and she noticed he didn't quite meet either her or Tony's gaze.

"Yeah," she answered, trying to keep her tone light.

Now Bill looked at them, first at her and then at him. And when he spoke, there was nothing but sincerity in his voice, "I wish you both the best."

She was surprised at his genuine words, and realized with a pang that Jack's situation probably made people value life more, made people grateful for what they had instead of sulking over what they didn't.

"Thanks," she murmured, just as Tony said, "Thank you."

Bill held out his hand to both of them, and they shook it, gave him an odd, sad sort of smile and moved forward.

They both wanted to get out of here as soon as possible, but they felt they couldn't leave without saying goodbye to Chloe first. Tony spotted her at Edgar's station, finishing up his work after having awkwardly told to him to 'go home and deal with his mother's death.'

Chloe spotted them coming towards her, and wordlessly got up to make her way to an empty corridor, knowing they would follow her. The three of them knew that this was not a goodbye they would like to do in public.

They stared at each other for a minute before Chloe broke the ice by saying, "What are we gonna do about Kim?"

Tony's shoulders slumped, having already come to terms with what had to be done. "I'll tell her." And then moment later, "I think Jack would have wanted me to."

"Tell her what?" Chloe demanded with her usual sarcasm, "That he's dead?"

Tony gave her a look. "We can't put her in danger, Chloe."

She fidgeted and rolled her eyes. "Fine."

"We don't like it any more that you do, Chloe," Michelle added, forever trying to make peace between her husband and the analyst, "But we need to do what's best for her."

Chloe grudgingly accepted this. She had never been the easiest person to work with, and especially Tony had often had to fight the urge to smack her in the past, but now it was almost as hard to say goodbye to her as it had been to Jack a few hours before.

"It's gonna be weird here without you," Chloe blurted out, breaking the silence, "Even though you guys haven't been here in over a year," she hastily added.

Michelle smiled a little. "Yeah, well. You'll manage just fine."

"Yeah." The analyst quickly smiled and lowered her eyes, doing more of her fidgeting. Apparently, Chloe O'Brian was not good with goodbyes, which really wasn't that much of a surprise since her other social skills were equally catastrophic. Nevertheless, Michelle had become somewhat fond of the woman and her attitude over the years; well, as fond as you can get of Chloe O'Brian anyway.

"Take care, Chloe," she said softly, reaching out and touching her elbow.

"Yeah," Chloe said again, "Yeah, you too. Bye Michelle, Tony."

Then she looked a little taken aback, as if surprised and a tad irritated with herself that she was getting emotional, and then gave them one last crooked smile before awkwardly shuffling away. Michelle and Tony watched her disappear around the corner with slight smiles of their own.

Passing through security for the last time felt strange and surprisingly lonesome to both of them. In a way, it reminded Michelle of walking out of her High School the day of graduation. There had been good times and bad times, and despite the fact that on both occasions she was happy to leave, she was also a little uncertain of what the future might bring. As if there was a whole other world out there that she had yet to discover.

As they stepped out into the parking lot, she automatically moved closer to Tony and felt his arm go around her shoulder. They stopped walking and slowly turned around to look at the building one last time. Worlds failed them as they stared at the place that had brought them together, torn them apart and reunited them once again. A place that had ruined so many lives, but they knew they would never think of with bitterness. A place that, despite everything, would be difficult to leave behind for both of them.

Michelle felt Tony's hand squeeze her shoulder a little before he quietly uttered the words, "You're sure, right?"

She smiled and turned a little so that she was looking at his face, his eyes completely captivating her once again. How could she not be sure when he looked at her like that?

"Yes. I'm sure."

It had been the same answer she had given him earlier today when he asked her if she was sure she wanted to him to stay, the same answer as when he had asked her if she was sure she was ready for engagement after barely six months official dating. It was familiar, something he knew she meant with all her heart.

"I promise you things will be better, alright?" he told her softly, "We'll make it work. _I'll_ make it work."

She smiled a little and patted his chest. "Sweetheart, believe me, whatever you do will be better than the past six m-"

"No, don't say that," he said quickly, "I _need_ to make it right. And I don't want you ever settling for anything less, okay?" He held her gaze before saying, "I want you to be happy."

She felt tears stinging in the back of her eyes, but managed to keep them away as she pressed herself against him with a gentle kiss.

"I'm happy now," she whispered against his neck, feeling him pull her even closer after she'd spoken the words.

They stayed like this for a moment before breaking apart. He reached for her hand led her to the same silver-colored SUV that they had dropped Jack off in a few hours before.

Neither of them looked back at CTU again as they drove out of the parking lot. Neither needed to.


End file.
